ALABAMA STATE BAR Lawyers Render Service Informational Guide for New Members of the Alabama State Bar A word from membership services: Congratulations, and welcome to the Alabama State Bar! Upon your admission to the Alabama State Bar, you will become part of a tradition of professional excellence and public service that dates back more than 150 years. The information contained in this booklet will help to acquaint you with the responsibilities, privileges and opportunities of bar membership that will mold your career. We hope that you will take full advantage of the member benefits that are available to you, which include free and discounted rates on legal research capabilities, insurance, as well as opportunities for client referrals, networking, continuing education, community involvement and general camaraderie. The Alabama State Bar is here to assist you in any way that we can, from something small like reminding you of your bar ID number or a phone number of a fellow attorney, to the larger issues addressed by the Practice Management Assistance Program and Lawyer Assistance Program. Please do not hesitate to contact us regarding any question or concern that may arise. We wish you the best of luck in building a career that you will be proud of! Contents: Angela Parks, History of the Alabama State Bar .............3 Director of Regulatory Programs ASB Structure, Location and Staff .............4 Part I: Responsibilities of Membership.....5 facebook.com/AlabamaStateBar f Part II: Benefits of Membership ................8 Part III: Opportunities of Membership @AlabamaStateBar Sections ...........................................12 Speciality Certification..................16 @AlabamaStateBar Section Application........................17 Lawyer Referral Service ...............18 youtube.com/TheAlabamaStateBar LRS Application..............................19 Local Bar Associations ..................21 flickr.com/AlabamaStateBar Volunteer Lawyers Program ........22 2 Alabama State Bar HISTORY OF THE ALABAMA STATE BAR The Alabama State Bar (ASB) is the official statewide organization Bragg of Montgomery was elected to be the first president of the of lawyers in Alabama. The bar is dedicated to promoting the Alabama State Bar. On February 12, 1879, an act incorporating professional responsibility and competence of its members, the Alabama State Bar was approved by Governor Rufus W. Cobb. improving the administration of justice and increasing the At the first meeting in Montgomery on December 4, 1879, E. W. public understanding of and respect for the law through the Pettus of Dallas County was elected president. Two years later, guiding values of trust, integrity and service. ASB has long served at the third annual meeting in 1881, at the suggestion of Thomas a dual role as an advocate for the profession and the public. Goode Jones of Montgomery, a committee was created and Since its creation as an integrated bar association, the bar has charged with the responsibility of adopting a code of legal ethics served as the voice of the legal practitioner in Alabama, and has for the bar which would be the first code of legal ethics in the initiated programs addressing a wide range of public concerns country. The Alabama Code of Ethics was adopted by the bar at its from merit selection of judges to securing adequate funding annual meeting in 1887 and was the foundation of the canons of for representation of indigent defendants; from ensuring that ethics ultimately adopted by the American Bar Association. non-lawyers sit on disciplinary panels to encouraging the use of mediation as an alternative method of dispute resolution. In 1923, the Alabama legislature integrated the Alabama State Bar with state government. Integration made membership mandatory The Alabama State Bar is composed of practicing attorneys, in what had been a traditionally voluntary association, thereby, judges, law professors and non-practicing lawyers who allowing the Alabama Supreme Court to better regulate the are business executives, government officials and court legal profession. In that regard, the Alabama State Bar is unlike administrators. It represents practitioners in specialized areas of a traditional state agency which ordinarily operates under the law, as well as affiliated, law-related organizations and groups executive branch of government. The bar's enabling legislation with special interests or needs. appears in §§34-3-1 through 89, Code of Alabama (1975). As a result of this act, the first meeting of the Alabama State Bar On December 13, 1878, and January 15, 1879, delegates from Commission was held on January 8, 1924, when the Board of the bar of each Alabama county met in the hall of the house of Bar Commissioners appointed the first Board of Examiners and representatives in Montgomery for the purpose of organizing a adopted rules regulating requirements for admission to practice state bar association. When these meetings concluded on January law and governing the conduct of attorneys in Alabama. Under 20, 1879, the constitution and bylaws of the Alabama State Bar the statute and rules of the Alabama Supreme Court, the state had been adopted and officers had been elected to serve until the bar serves a dual role. First, the state bar protects the public first meeting, set for the first Tuesday in December 1879. W. L. by ensuring that lawyers who are granted licenses are not only 3 Informational Guide minimally competent to practice law, but also abide by the Physical Location profession's ethical standards. Second, the state bar is a private The Alabama State Bar is located at 415 Dexter Avenue in association with responsibilities largely of a service nature (e.g. Montgomery. The original building contained six offices, a library, education, publications and improvement of the administration of an assembly room and a membership file room which are all justice) to benefit both the legal profession as well as the general fully paid and furnished through donations by bar members. A public. print shop was added in 1969. By 1980, the bar had outgrown ASB Structure the Dexter Avenue headquarters and another building was purchased and furnished, again with donations by bar members. Although the Alabama State Bar is subject to certain legislative That building, located at 1019 South Perry Street, across from the controls relating to its fiscal operations, the Board of Bar Governor's Mansion, was the original home of the ASB Center for Commissioners exercises a judicial function under state law in Professional Responsibility. administering the Supreme Court's rules and is subject to its oversight. For this reason, the Board of Bar Commissioners is In the fall of 1992, work was completed on a $3.5 million addition an arm of the court and state bar members are officers of the to the headquarters building, which provided an additional 32,000 court. The commission's employees are non-merit employees, as square feet of space, and allowed the Center for Professional are employees of the judicial branch, fulfilling responsibilities Responsibility to return to Dexter Avenue. A second renovation in entrusted to the commission by the Supreme Court. The Board 1999 allowed the previously unoccupied portion of the third floor of Bar Commissioners is composed of 75 members, drawn to be used for several of the bar’s newest programs including a from every judicial circuit in the state. A list of the current bar state-of-the-art video conference room which is available for use commissioners is available at www.alabar.org/about-the-bar/ by bar committees and sections. Members may use this facility board-of-bar-commissioners/current-board-members. for client teleconferences and video depositions for a reasonable charge. The Board of Bar Commissioners is directed by the Executive Council, composed of the ASB president, immediate past- Staff president, president-elect, vice president, secretary/executive The Board of Bar Commissioners appoints the executive director and three members-at-large chosen from the board. All director, who supervises a professional and administrative staff officers are elected to serve one-year terms which begin at the of approximately 50 employees. The staff implements decisions bar's Annual Meeting, usually held in July of each year. of the commission in the administration of state bar business, assists members in carrying out their mandatory and voluntary The president is the official spokesperson in expressing policies of activities and expedites the dissemination of information to the the state bar as determined by the commission. Unless otherwise membership and to the public. A list of staff members is available provided, the president appoints the chairs and members of at www.alabar.org/about-the-bar/staff. standing committees and task forces of the bar. The president-elect performs duties as assigned by the president, or the duties of the president should the president become disabled and unable to perform the duties of office. The president- elect, not the vice president, succeeds the president at the conclusion of his or her term. The executive director of the bar also serves as secretary of the Board of Bar Commissioners. The state bar includes 32 substantive law sections, 24 standing committees and 11 task forces. Sections range in size from approximately 20 members to as many as 500 members and draw their membership from judges and lawyers with common professional interests. They address professional development, improvement of laws and continuing education in a variety of substantive law fields. They also sponsor conferences, monitor legislation, conduct studies and may make policy recommendations to the Board of Bar Commissioners. 4 Alabama State Bar PART I: YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES AS A MEMBER OF THE BAR Annual invoice Address Changes The bar year runs from October 1 through September 30 of each As a member of the Alabama State Bar, you are required to year. You will be invoiced each September for a payment of either keep Membership Services informed at all times of your current the occupational license fee or special membership dues.